On September 19, 2000, the Food and Drug Administration began receiving multiple reports of allergic reactions from food products such as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, Kraft Taco Shells, and a few other corn products. All of these products supposedly contained StarLink corn. It did seem unusual that only one day earlier a newspaper article the day before had contained allegations of allergic reactions due to StarLink corn. Before the article was published only two complaints had been filed. To discover the validity of these allegations, and the possibility that StarLink corn caused allergic reactions because it is genetically modified, the FDA and the Center for Disease Control combined to study the consumer complaints.
When the FDA received any consumer complaint, they put the complaint into its “Field Accomplishment and Compliance Tracking Systems.” Then medical experts would examine the complaints to see if they were legitimate allergic reactions. All in all, sixty-three complaints were filed. Approximately sixty percent of those complaints were found to be “compatible” or legitimate reactions.
The Environmental Protection Agency was also receiving complaints regarding the protein Cry9c in these same food samples. The FDA and EPA decide to use Polymerase Chain Reaction in any of the food substances that were consumed by citizens who had an allergic reaction. The studies were conducted by the FDA. In the end, eleven food samples were analyzed through PCR for StarLink corn. As of now, ten have been completely analyzed for StarLink corn, and all ten have had no trace of StarLink corn. As for the Cry9c protein, the same eleven food samples were tested for the protein. Eight of the tests were considered conclusive and all eight food samples were found to be free of Cry9c.
Although the allergic reactions were legitimate, they were not caused by the genetically modified organism in question, according to the FDA. What can be learned from this occurrence is a legal aspect of genetically modified foods. Government agencies received complaints from citizens regarding genetically modified food. The agencies then studied and analyzed the food samples of controversy until conclusive data was achieved, which in this case proved the organism in question was not the cause of the allergic reaction. This shows that government agencies are attempting to protect citizens from harmful effects of genetically modified foods.
This cartoon drawn about this case was found at Green Peace's website. Please click on the picture to read about the story from that website.
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